Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-06-09
FACTS ABOUT RATS.

Interesting Information Gathered by an
Ardent Admirer of the Rodent Family.
The rat is finely equipped for the pc
culiar life he is ordained to lead. He
has strong weapons in the shape of four
long and very sharp teeth; those teeth
have fine edge, the upper working
into the lower, so that they meet in the
act of gnawing; while the soft part is
being worn away, the hard part keeps
its chisel-lke edge all the time. and at
the same time the teeth are constantly
growing up from the bottom, so that as
they wear away a fresh supply is ready.
Should one of these teeth be removed,
the opposite tooth will continue to
grow, and there being nothing to wear
it away, it will project from the mouth
and be turned upon itself, and if it be
an under tooth it will grow SO long as
to penetrate the skull.
There are curious facts connected
with the habits of the rat which war
rant close observation of them on the
tunity. A lady at one time missed
several eggs from her store closet, and
naturally concluded that they had been
stolen by the servant. She questioned
the girl, who denied any knowledge OF
the eggs, which continued to disap-
pear in the same mysterious manner,
when one day the thief was unexpect-
eddy discovered. The lady observed
one morning. on entering her store.
room, singular sight. A little rat
was upon his back upon the floor and
hugging an egg. while larger rat
was hauling him round by the tail. In
this way. undoubtedly, all the missing
eggs had been carried away.
Rats have two motions of the jaw in
biting. The first is soft and delicate.
and the teeth just scratch the object
they have hold Of Then follows a
quick, powerful action of the jaw, and
the slender teeth sink up to the gums
and stay there. This bite is danger
Gus. If the teeth have gone deeply in
to ones hand it is well TO suck the
wound. This seems to keep the SWELL
ing down, but always a good deal of
pain follows. There is no harm in the
bite of a well-fed rat. A frightened
rat will fight if cornered, and viciously.
too. The way to grab rats so that
they can not bite is to seize them with
u strong grip just back of the neck.
They will howl like stuck pigs, but can
not get away, and are entirely under
control.
Rats have a fine scent for finding
out where there is any thing nice to
eat, and it has otter been a subject of
wonder how they manage to gel on
board ships laden with sugar and
other attractive cargoas, but the mys-
terry has been solved. for they have
been seen to come off shore to the ship
by means of the rope which moored her
to the wharf. By the same means
they will leave the ship when she gets
into port. particularly if they find theiI
quarters filling with water.
A gentleman's house was once in.
tested with rats, and he got completely
rid of them by catching one of them
alive, and covering it with coal tar,
and allowing it to return to its hole.
At another time q trap was set at
night in n house where rats were
numerous, and in the morning the trap
was fonnd sprung. with a long tail in.
inside. Its owner had vanished, and,
perhaps, after relating his narrow es-
cape, and how he had lost his beauti-
full tail, took all his rat friends and left
the house forever.
1t has been told by M. de St. Pierre,
that when the man-of-war Valiant re-
turned from Havana, in the year 1866.
the rats increased to such an exte Mt
that they destroyed a hundred weight
of biscuit daily. The ship was finally
smoked between decks and six hampers
were, for some time, filled every day
with rats that had thus been killed.
| When the atmospheric pumps were
in use at the terminus of the Corydon
railway hundreds of rats lost their lives
there in this way; At night they used
to get into the large exhausting tube
/ to lick the grease off the leather valve.
As soon as the pump was put in order
| to work for the early train, out these
rats were sucked.
The rat, though naturally savage
creature. is capable of being tanned and
made obedient to the will of man.
Some of the japanese tame rats, and
teach them to perform many tricks;
then they exhibit them. Chicago Ne,0s